Chapter 5 Section 3 The Maturity of Ancient Martial Arts (Song-Qing Dynasty)

After long-term gestation and germination in the Stone Age and Bronze Age, and more than 1,000 years of blood and fire tempering in the Iron Weapon Age, ancient Chinese martial arts have undergone qualitative changes since the Song Dynasty and entered a mature period, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the ancient times, the exotic flowers and plants of martial arts bloomed one after another in the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River, making it dizzying for the eyes.This is because in this historical era, all the conditions for Wushu to mature have been met. First of all, starting from the Northern Song Dynasty, firearms began to appear on the battlefield on a larger scale.Initially, the burning performance of gunpowder was mainly used to create incendiary firearms to burn the enemy's supplies and defensive equipment.Later, gunpowder, broken porcelain pieces and bamboo were used to create explosives similar to dynamite packs, which were quite powerful.When it is cast, the blasting sound is very scary, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, so it is named "Thunderbolt Cannon" or "Thunderbolt Fireball". In 1126, when the Jin soldiers besieged Kaifeng, Li Gang, the main combatant minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, used the "Thunderbolt Cannon" to thwart Jin Bingzhi's attempt to take Kaifeng in one fell swoop during the defense of Kaifeng.In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was already an arsenal specializing in the manufacture of firearms. During the reign of Song Shenzong Xining (AD 1068-1077), 7,000 gunpowder arrows, 10,000 bow gunpowder arrows, 3,000 caltrop guns, and leather artillery were shipped out in one day. 20000 pieces.Rockets became an essential weapon for the Song Dynasty army.In the Southern Song Dynasty, my country's earliest tube-shaped weapons also appeared on the battlefield. When the Jin soldiers invaded the Southern Song Dynasty in 1132, Chen Gui, the guard who guarded De'an Prefecture in Hubei Province (now Anlu County), invented a very simple musket.This kind of musket is made of bamboo poles, gunpowder is injected into the barrel, and the flames emitted by the gunpowder burn will burn the enemy, which is a bit like today's flamethrower.In the Yuan Dynasty, the world's earliest metal tubular firearm was produced.

By the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 100 types of firearms, and there were dozens of single-shot and multiple-shot types of rockets alone. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, in the Nine Frontier Defense War, only one chariot battalion was equipped with 30,000 rockets.By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the quality of muskets was already quite high.Song Yingxing wrote in "Tiangong Kaiwu" that when the musket is fired, the bird within 30 steps can be smashed into meat, and the bird 50 steps away can maintain its original shape.Therefore, muskets are also called bird guns, and their range, rate of fire and penetration are better than bows and arrows.By the late Ming Dynasty, bird guns became the main weapon of infantry.Artillery also played a great role in the wars of the Ming Dynasty.According to "History of Ming Dynasty Bing Zhi", "Ming Hui Dian" and other historical records, the firearms created in the Ming Dynasty are of various types and have a wide range of uses, including various guns, cannons, blunderbuss and all kinds of firearms used in land, cavalry, water and vehicle warfare. Fireballs, rockets, mines, mines, etc.Because the Ming army was equipped with a large number of firearms, its combat effectiveness was enhanced. Firearms played a huge role in the war against the Japanese in the southeast coast and in the war against the Mongol invasion in the north.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when fighting against the Houjin soldiers, the Ming army also mainly relied on firearms to confront the Houjin's gold and iron horses.For example, in the sixth year of Tianqi in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1626), the brave Houjin army besieged Ningyuan City in the Ming Dynasty, and the guard Yuan Chonghuan repelled Houjin's attack with the very lethal Hongyi cannon.Qing Taizu Nurhachi was seriously injured in this battle.The national hero Zheng Chenggong also brilliantly used artillery to annihilate the Dutch invaders in the war to regain Taiwan.

Since the Song Dynasty, although firearms played an increasingly important role on the battlefield, they could not completely replace cold weapons, and cold weapons continued to play a very important role.This is an era in which cold weapons are transitioning to hot weapons, and cold and hot weapons work together.From the writings of Qi Jiguang (1528-1587), a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, we know that the tactics at that time were to shoot the enemy with guns and crossbows before the two armies confronted each other, causing the enemy to massacre. Reduce personnel; after the confrontation, use cold weapons to fight the enemy hand-to-hand.

As hot weapons began to replace cold weapons in large numbers, many weapons that once played an important role on the battlefield were eliminated from the army, so they could get rid of the shackles of the military and freely follow various needs in the folk, such as entertainment, fitness, performances, etc. And so on to develop freely; and because cold weapons have not been completely replaced and still partially play an important role on the battlefield, the development of folk martial arts cannot completely ignore military needs and be completely divorced from actual combat needs.This inseparable state of martial arts and military is the most important condition for the formation and development of Chinese martial arts.It is under such conditions that martial arts can absorb a large amount of nutrition from various other cultural forms, such as dance, acrobatics, and qigong, and carry out transplantation without too much consideration of whether the transplanted content is flashy or not, and whether it is practical in actual combat. Can come in handy.The design of martial arts is no longer simply based on actual combat, which suddenly opens up a broad field of vision for the development of martial arts.As a result, various and colorful martial arts routines developed rapidly; all kinds of weapons that have long since disappeared from the battlefield are still youthful and shining in the hands of martial artists.

This kind of routine martial arts is quite different from the actual military fighting skills, so it is also called Huafa martial arts by some military experts, and it is forbidden to practice in the army.For example, He Liangchen in the Ming Dynasty said in his "Zhiji" that although flower knives, flower guns, sticks, and rolling branches are beautiful, they are not practical. Therefore, these routines should not be practiced in the army.Qi Jiguang also strictly forbids the military to practice the martial art of "circling around, full of flowers and plants", thinking that this is a morbid martial art, and fighting with real swords and guns on the battlefield is "killing people, how beautiful it is!" ( "Ji Xiao's New Book Or Questions") He believes that boxing is only a physical activity for moving the hands and feet and making the body flexible, and has little to do with real combat ("Ji Xiao's New Book: Boxing Classics and Jie Yao").These strategists correctly pointed out the difference between this kind of personal practice martial arts and the military actual combat technology of thousands of troops charging forward.

However, because cold weapon fighting skills not only play a considerable role on the battlefield, but also in a turbulent social environment, people need an effective means of defending their hometown and their own safety. Therefore, martial arts are not completely separated from actual combat. All martial arts movements are still directly or indirectly related to actual combat, which makes martial arts always maintain its own "wu" characteristics, and will not become other cultural forms such as dance and acrobatics. Secondly, since the Northern Song Dynasty, the social environment has also undergone great changes.The handicraft industry and commerce flourished unprecedentedly, and the city developed rapidly.In the Tang Dynasty, there were only 10 cities with more than 100,000 households. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were as many as 40 cities, including Kaifeng, Luoyang, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Daming, Yingtian (Shangqiu, Henan), Suzhou, Jingzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Fuzhou. Beijing, Changsha and Quanzhou are all famous and prosperous cities.Especially Kaifeng, the capital city, has a population of more than 1 million, and there are more than 6,400 shops next to each other.Pedestrians come and go, and there is a lot of traffic.There are also large-scale entertainment venues called "Wazi" (also known as "Washe", "Washi" and "Wasi") in the city.These entertainment venues were originally temporary, and they had already taken shape in the Tang Dynasty. For example, in the first year of Tang Zhenyuan, there was an artist named Xie Ruhai who was "good at hitting balls, 樗〔chu Chu〕pu opera, sword dancing, and counting pills." , Thousands of people gathered to watch when performing in Chang'an Theater.This kind of performance is indeterminate in gathering and dispersing, just like in the history books, "Wa Zhe means wild reunion and easy dispersal" ("Capital Ji Sheng"); The meaning of wa-san is easy to gather and disperse, and I don’t know when it started” ("Meng Liang Lu·Washe").With the development of the city, citizens' entertainment became an important part of social life, and these temporary entertainment venues gradually became fixed, becoming a major social landscape after the Song Dynasty.In Wazi, there are "Goulan" (places for song and dance performances, rivers and lakes), restaurants, and teahouses.There are stage, theater room (backstage), shrine, and waist shed (watching seats) in the Goulan.Volume 2 of Meng Yuanlao’s "Tokyo Menghualu" in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote: "Among them, there are more than 50 large and small Goulan, and the Wazi Lotus Shed, Peony Shed, Liwazi Yasha Shed, and Elephant Shed are the largest, and can accommodate thousands of people." Markets in rural areas have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain.Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty also developed into a metropolis of 1.2 million people at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was extremely prosperous.When the traveler Marco Polo arrived in Hangzhou in the Yuan Dynasty, he was amazed by the prosperity and wealth of Hangzhou, calling Hangzhou "the city of heaven" and "the crown of other cities in the world".The commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty has further developed, surpassing any previous period.The bustling urban social life naturally needs its own entertainment and fitness activities, and routine martial arts can just meet this social need.Because routine martial arts can not only be practiced by entertainers in the Jianghu in front of the public for people to watch, but also suitable for people from all walks of life to learn and master according to their different needs such as martial arts, fitness, and self-cultivation.

There is no uniform name for martial arts in the Song Dynasty, but they are called Shiquan, Shizhu, Machete Dance, Manpai Dance, Sword Dance and so on according to different activities.Since the Song Dynasty, a large number of folk artists who dance guns and sticks and are proficient in swords have emerged, and their wonderful martial arts performances can be seen everywhere.Although from the middle and late Tang Dynasty, there were soldiers specialized in martial arts performances in the army, such as the Shence Army who was in charge of guarding the capital of the Tang Dynasty, there were warriors who were good at wrestlers and performed performances. There was a new development in the Song Dynasty.Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty selected hundreds of strong warriors from the army and asked them to learn various sword dances.These people have also mastered the ability to throw the sword into the air, and then jump up to catch it from the left and right sides of the body.When Song Taizong hosted a banquet for Khitan envoys, he let this martial arts performance team perform on stage.I saw hundreds of warriors baring their arms, shouting loudly, steel knives flying up and down, a cold light shone, the Khitan envoys dared not look at each other directly.Song Taizong also used these sword dancers as guides when he patrolled the border. Everyone showed their unique skills, which had a certain deterrent effect (Volume 20 of "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian").In the army of the Song Dynasty, there were about 120 sumo wrestlers and wrestlers selected from the left and right armies, called "Neiwaizi". The guards, on both sides of the holy car, "wear brocade clothes and top hats, look around with fists, and those who make loud noises will bleed."These people are under the jurisdiction of the introduction department of Yu Zhongzuo Juntou.There is a competition inspection every 10 days, and a big exam every three years. The best and the worst are selected, and money and food are paid according to the level of martial arts. ("Meng Liang Lu" Volume 20)

In the "Tokyo Menghualu" describing the customs and customs of Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded that Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty watched all kinds of operas at the Baojin Building in Kaifeng in the last years of Xuanhe, and gave a vivid description of the performance of this kind of martial arts soldiers. Description: Two people come out and stab each other, one jumps over to grab the opponent, and the other falls to the ground.There are five to seven pairs of performers fighting each other in this way, some with spears against shields, and some with swords against shields.A pair of performers dressed up as village women and peasants appeared on the stage and beat each other with wooden sticks.There is also a performance called "Seven Holy Knives": in the smoke of firecrackers, seven performers with patterns painted on their bodies, with loose hair and real knives, come out on the stage, fight and stab each other, and make faces. , Cut out the pose of the heart.In addition, there is a majestic collective routine performance. More than 100 performers with yellow and white powder on their faces each hold a wooden knife and form an array, performing dance practice under the command of the sound of gongs.While shouting loudly, they changed their positions, and finally formed a line, lined up in pairs, fought with each other, and after performing various wonderful performances such as grabbing and stabbing with knives, they threw the knives on the ground and threw them back in the air. There was a loud bang, and dozens of couples were like this.

Since the Song Dynasty, traditional fitness techniques such as Qigong and Daoyin in ancient China have also begun to mature after thousands of years of development.Fitness and health preservation is ingeniously combined with the theory of yin and yang, five elements, eight trigrams in traditional philosophy and the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, forming its own unique theory and method.Whether it is the internal strength that emphasizes the movement of qi and training the mind, or the external strength that emphasizes the movement of the body, there are quite mature exercises, such as "Inner Alchemy", "Ba Duan Jin", "Yi Jin Jing" and so on.This has prepared good conditions for the combination of martial arts, qigong and Daoyin, and the development of mature martial arts of "training one's breath internally and training muscles, bones and skin externally".At the same time, due to the needs of entertainment and viewing in the life of urban citizens, other cultural activities, such as dance and acrobatics, also developed rapidly after the Song Dynasty. These cultural forms not only continuously absorbed nourishment from Wushu, but also provided Wushu with Rich material.It is in such a big era background that martial arts are like ducks in water, and they are able to develop and mature rapidly.

Ancient Chinese martial arts did not form a school before the Ming Dynasty.With the further development of martial arts, different schools have appeared since the Ming Dynasty, which is a sign of the development of martial arts to a higher level.Qi Jiguang has recorded some influential schools of martial arts at that time in "Ji Xiao New Book", such as Song Taizu's Thirty-two Positive Forms, Liubu Boxing, Monkey Boxing, 囮 (e Goose) Boxing, and Wen Jia's Seventy-two Line Boxing , Thirty-six locks, twenty-four abandoned horses, eight flashes, twelve shorts and other boxing techniques.Folk martial artists with unique skills also appeared in large numbers. Some of them are good at using their legs and some are good at using their arms. They are all heroes of the world famous for their superb skills.For example, Shandong Li Bantian's leg, Eagle Claw King's holding, Qianshui Zhang's falling, and Zhang Bojing's hitting.The routines of weapon martial arts include Shaolin cudgel, Qingtian cudgel, Yang family spear, Bazi boxing cudgel, etc.Martial arts genres arose for several reasons:

(1) As firearms began to replace cold weapons in large quantities, many martial arts in the original army lost their original role of being directly used for fighting on the battlefield and became a form of sports.The killing technique on the battlefield, as Qi Jiguang said, is "the most intimate activity of self-defense, meritorious deeds, killing thieves and saving lives" ("Ji Xiao's New Book Lun Bing's Urgent Prohibition").One careless move could lead to death.Therefore, the technical movements in actual combat are all designed in accordance with the laws of war. They are concise, practical, and uniform, and it is difficult to form any genre.And when martial arts and actual combat have a certain distance and become a form of sports, they can get rid of this shackles and can develop in various directions, thus forming schools. (2) With the development of martial arts among the people, due to inconvenient transportation and poor communication, the martial arts that have been passed on continue to develop in their own small worlds.In addition, people's physical conditions and natural environments are different from place to place. Even the same martial art or the same kind of martial arts will have different postures in different regions.For example, the martial arts postures in the Yangtze River Valley are small and compact, known as the Southern School; while the martial arts postures in the Yellow River Basin are large and stretched. (3) The emergence of different martial arts theories leads to new martial arts schools.The most obvious example is that since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a distinction between internal and external martial arts, and the emergence of internal martial arts that is different from Shaolin martial arts in terms of martial arts ideas, which has a great influence on some later boxing. With the maturity of martial arts, more and more people practice martial arts in the society.Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a phenomenon of "association" among the people to practice martial arts, that is, there have been many martial arts training groups organized by ordinary people themselves.These organizations are mainly in the countryside to defend their hometowns. This is because the Liao and Xixia invasions on the northern borders of the Song Dynasty were increasingly serious, and there were constant wars in the territory.In order to resist foreign enemies, farmers had an urgent need to practice martial arts, so spontaneous self-defense martial arts organizations emerged, such as the quite popular "Bow and Arrow Club" in Hebei.Regardless of whether the villagers are poor or rich, each household sends out one person, and the villagers themselves recommend people who are rich in family business and outstanding in martial arts to serve as the head, deputy and recorder of the society. These people are called "leaders".Non-governmental self-defense martial arts organizations such as bow and arrow clubs have "community contracts" and strict disciplines. The rewards and punishments they formulate themselves are even stricter than those formulated by the government.Members of the bow and arrow club each prepare a bow, 30 arrows and a knife.Each society chooses a free and flat land as a place to practice bow and arrow.Practice archery every three, six, and nine days.There are two main shooting methods for practice. One is short-range shooting, which is to stick a three-foot-long stick on the ground and shoot the stick at a distance of 40 steps. You must practice until you hit every shot.The second method is called "Cuanshe method". The arrow targets are people made of grass, with different colors. The members with loud voices hold a red flag to command, pointing at which straw man, everyone will shoot at that straw man together.Villagers carried bows and arrows when digging, and swords when chopping firewood.In the event of an emergency, they beat drums to gather the crowd, and thousands of people can be summoned in an instant, and they are all ready with weapons, armor and pommel horses. (Volume 14 of "The Complete Works of Su Dongpo") The emergence of a large number of martial arts organizations such as bow and arrow clubs has greatly increased the opportunities for ordinary people to practice martial arts.There have been many private martial artists teaching martial arts in the society. For example, when Yue Fei was young, he first practiced archery with private martial artist Zhou Tong, and then learned "martial arts" from the famous local gunman Chen Guang, and finally became an "invincible" martial artist ("Jin Tuo Bian "Volume 28).A large number of highly skilled martial artists have emerged among the people, such as Li Quan, known as "Li Tieqiang", who is "quick with bow and horse [Qiao Qiao] and can carry iron spears", and his wife Yang Miaozhen "has been invincible in the world for twenty years with pear blossom spears". hand". ("Song History·Li Quan Biography") Different from martial arts groups such as bow and arrow clubs in rural areas for survival and self-protection, recreational martial arts groups appeared in cities and towns in the Song Dynasty.The small number of such groups is called "fire", and the large number is called "she".In addition to groups such as Cuju and playing ball, which are "not for officials, but for first-class rich men, romantic children and idlers", there are also some martial arts organizations, such as the "Chuannu Bow and Arrow Society" in Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, "Sumo Club", "Yinglue Club" (using sticks), "Championship Club" (shooting crossbows) and so on.According to the "West Lake Old Man Fan Sheng Lu", there are "no less than a hundred people" in each community. "Samurai have bow and crossbow shooting clubs, all of them can climb bows and shoot crossbows, and they are proficient in martial arts. Only those who are proficient in shooting and shooting can enter the ears of this club." ("Menglianglu" Volume 19) It can be said that they belong to amateur spare time The organization of activities is somewhat similar to today's Wushu Association.These organizations are mainly for the exchange of martial arts, leisure and entertainment, and performances on appropriate occasions.Many civilians also voluntarily formed associations, and they "made their own martial arts skills such as wrapped headless guns, bamboo standard row, wooden bows and knives, and Artemisia arrows." ("Song History" Volume 191) This kind of martial arts club generally has a social contract, and recommends those with high martial arts skills as instructors to lead everyone to practice martial arts.This kind of martial arts organization for citizens' entertainment has a greater development in cities during the Taiping period, especially in densely populated towns. In the early Qing Dynasty, many secret groups with the purpose of anti-Qing appeared in various places, such as Tiandihui, Bailianjiao, Tianlijiao, Baguajiao, Qinghong Gang, Gelaohui and other Jianghu organizations.Most of them take the working people and rural poor and farm laborers as the basic masses, and the means of organization are martial arts training, medical treatment, and mutual aid.Some branch organizations are named after the characteristics of martial arts training, such as the Red Spear Club, Shun Gun Club, Small Sword Club, Yihe Boxing, etc.Shaolin boxing is carried out all over the country. Because it is spread secretly and is passed on by word of mouth, there are many schools, each with its own sect, and its own system. Due to the maturity of martial arts and its wide spread in society, from the Song Dynasty, especially after the Ming Dynasty, a large number of works on martial arts also appeared.Before this, since most of the people practicing martial arts were martial arts with relatively low education level, and the masters taught apprentices mainly through oral instruction, therefore, the experience of martial arts was not well summarized, and it was impossible to exchange widely.Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty made outstanding contributions in the critical period when Chinese martial arts matured.Although Qi Jiguang repeatedly reminded people to distinguish the difference between martial arts and actual combat skills that are only for looks but not practical, he did not ignore the good effect of boxing on physical training and the useful elements in some equipment routines. Therefore, he seriously Summarized the excellent boxing, cudgel, spear, and wolf [xianxian] methods of the Ming Dynasty, and recorded them clearly with pictures and texts in his "Ji Xiao Xin Shu".Tang Shunzhi (1507-1560 A.D.) and Yu Dayou (you You) (1504-1580 A.D.) who were at the same time as Qi Jiguang were also martial artists with both civil and military skills, and played an important role in this period.In addition to Qi Jiguang's works, the following works also contain a lot of content about martial arts: "Wu Jing Zong Yao" and "Jie Li Ji" in the Song Dynasty; Wang Qi and his son Wang Siyi's "Three Talents", Yu Dayou's "Sword Classic", Wang Minghe's "Wu Bei Zhi", Mao Yuanyi's "Wu Bei Zhi", Cheng Ziyi's "Wu Bei Yaolue", Tang Shunzhi's "Wu Bian", "Mr. Jingchuan's Collected Works", Zheng Ruozeng's "Jiangnan Jinglue", Xie Zhaozhe (zhezhe)'s "Wuzazu", Cheng Zongyou's "Cultivation Surplus Skills", Hong Zhuan's "Menglutang Spear Technique", Xuanji Monk's "Fist Jingquanfa Beiyao, Cheng Zhenru's "Emei Spearmanship"; Qing Dynasty Wu Shu (AD 1611-1695)'s "Arm Records" and "Wu Yinlu", Wang Zongyue's "Tai Chi Theory", Yanshui Shanren's "Wanbao Quanshu", Huang Baijia's "Internal Boxing", Wang Yu (zhuo)'s "The Story of the Military Staff", Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" and so on. As more and more people learn martial arts, people have begun to discuss the question of what steps to follow to master such a wide variety of martial arts.For example, Qi Jiguang pointed out that boxing can make the hands and feet flexible and the body agile, which should be mastered first when beginners learn martial arts ("Ji Xiao New Book·The Essentials of Boxing Classics").He Liangchen also believes that boxing is the foundation of martial arts. You should learn boxing first, and then stick. Once you master boxing and stick, then the rest of the equipment, such as knives and spears, can be easily learned ("Zhen Ji" ).Yu Dayou, another famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, compared the importance of stick practice in weapon martial arts by saying that people read "Four Books" first.He believes that once you learn to use the stick, you will be able to use other weapons ("Jian Jing"). An important sign of the maturity of martial arts is the emergence of martial arts internal strength.The Ming and Qing Dynasties were also the most prosperous period for qigong academics. A large number of qigong books appeared, and qigong was unprecedentedly popular among all social classes and groups.The rapid development of martial arts and qigong has promoted the combination of martial arts and qigong, and the emergence of Yijing Jin and Taijiquan indicates that the combination of martial arts combat and internal strength training has entered a mature stage.Prior to this, the ancient Qigong Daoyin technique was mainly used for curing diseases and health care, and did not emphasize internal strength and external courage, while Yi Jin Jing jumped out of the track of medical care, no longer aimed at curing diseases and preventing diseases, but instead The focus is on strengthening the body, with the aim of "enhancing energy and strength, strengthening bones and membranes". Therefore, it has become a basic exercise that Shaolin martial artists must learn. Since then, the combination of internal and external, and mutual practice and mutual training have become a major feature of Chinese martial arts. Chinese martial artists are also qigong masters with profound skills. Chinese martial arts, a strange flower and a strange tree, sprouted in the ancient times when human beings were ignorant [meng Meng], and after thousands of years of blood and fire, it finally borne fruitful fruits in the late feudal society.